Pilgrimage and Tourism to Holy Cities

Ideological and Management Perspectives

Maria Leppakari, Kevin Griffin, Maria Leppakari, Kevin Griffin

• Publisher: CAB International
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781780647388
• eBook ISBN: 9781780647401
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

This book covers the ideological motives and religious perceptions behind travel to sites prescribed with sanctity in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It covers sites that have drawn pilgrims and religious tourists to them for hundreds of years, and seeks to provide an understanding of the complex world of religiously motivated travel. Beginning with contemporary perspectives of pilgrimage across these religions, it then discusses management aspects such as logistics, infrastructure, malevolent behaviour and evangelical volunteers.This book: - Provides a collection of new, contemporary perspectives on pilgrimage. - Reviews the ideological motives, history, mental health, and religious perceptions of tourism to holy cities.- Contains practical applications, models and illustrations of religious tourism and pilgrimage management from a variety of international and academic perspectives.Written by subject experts, this book addresses cultural sustainability for researchers and practitioners within religious tourism, religious studies, geography and anthropology.

Part I Western ­Pilgrimage to Holy ­Cities in Judaism, Christianity and Islam

2 Judaism – Jewish and Israeli Pilgrimage Experience: Constructing National Identity

MOTTI INBARI ^*

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, Pembroke, USA

^*[email protected]

Introduction

Pilgrimage to the holy city of Jerusalem was a major ancient Jewish ritual. This chapter will discuss how this ancient tradition was transformed in the modern, secular, Israeli–Jewish experience. To this end, three different contemporary pilgrimage locations are presented, along with an explanation of how these new shrines are used for the creation of a national myth. New pilgrimage sites have helped develop Israeli identity, and even secular locations were sanctified. This process was promoted by the State of Israel, thus turning them into political pilgrimages. A different type of pilgrimage was also created from grass roots, by popular participation in newly dedicated shrines of North African Jewish saints. Thus, the renewed Jewish national home on the biblical borders of the Land of Israel also renewed ancient rituals of Jewish life, but in different locations and with different meanings.

According to sociologist Victor Turner, a pilgrimage is a sacred journey of spiritual ascension to a spiritual centre, a mythical land of pristine existence. Later on, pilgrimage became a form of non-instrumental travelling in traditional and particularly peasant societies (Turner and Turner, 1978). A pilgrimage has two elements: (i) the external journey to the sacred site; and (ii) the internal journey as a transformative spiritual experience. In addition, pilgrimage can also be used in secular contexts – for example, pilgrimages to war graves, celebrities’ homes and football stadia (Blackwell, 2014).

Eric Cohen in his seminal piece on pilgrimage argues that a pilgrimage is a journey to one’s centre which is beyond the boundaries of the immediate life space. Modern tourism, Cohen claims, involves gradual abandonment of the traditional, sacred image of the cosmos, and the awakening of interest in culture, social life and the natural environment of others. He argues that pilgrimages and modern tourism are thus predicated on different social conceptions of space and contrary views concerning the kind of destination worth visiting. As a result, they involve opposite directions: in pilgrimage the destination is from the periphery towards the cultural centre, but in modern tourism, it is away from the cultural centre into the periphery (Cohen, 1979).

This chapter will review the tradition of Jewish pilgrimage to the ancient Temple, explain its purpose and meaning, and discuss the reasons for its termination. Modern pilgrimages to state-sponsored locations in Masada and to death camps in Poland such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdenek and Treblinka will then be presented. The third type that will be reviewed is a grass-roots pilgrimage to a venerated saint’s shrine which lies in Israel’s periphery.

Historical Perspectives

Jerusalem holds a unique place in Jewish imagination, and its pre-eminence in the heart of the Jewish people cannot be overestimated. In Jewish legends, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem holds the foundation stone of the world (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 54a); The Bible mentions Mt Moriah as Issac’s binding place (Genesis 22).

In the Bible it is written that upon the cessation of a plague, King David purchased the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in order to erect an altar. David wanted to construct a permanent temple there, but as his hands were desecrated by blood he was forbidden to do so himself, so the task was left to his son, Solomon, who completed it (2 Samuel 24: 18–25).

The Bible lays out the divine authorization for pilgrimage to Jerusalem’s First Temple: ‘Three times in a year you shall hold a festival for me’ (Exodus 23: 14). The three times are specified in Deuteronomy 16: 16 as the Jewish festivals of Passover, Shavu’ot and Sukkot. These pilgrimages were mandatory in historical times, but applied only for men. They required a personal appearance in Jerusalem and were linked directly to key moments in the agricultural cycle and required pilgrims to bring a portion of their harvest with them as a gift for the Temple. The ancient spring festival of Passover, with its offering of young lambs and sheaves of first-cut barley, became the occasion for the recounting of the events of the exodus from Egypt. Shavu’ot, the festival of the wheat harvest 7 weeks after Passover, commemorated God giving the Laws to Moses on Mount Sinai. And Sukkot, in early autumn when the first fruits and grapes were gathered, came to recall the 40-year period of wandering in the desert (Gitlitz and Davidson, 2006, p. 25).

The Second Temple (built to replace the destroyed First Temple) was built after Cyrus’ declaration that can be found in the Book of Ezra (1: 1–6). This structure was also central for the life of the Jewish nation. During the festival of Aliya laregel (literally meaning ascension or pilgrimage in Hebrew) there was a commandment to bring sacrifice and to bow down in front of the Temple’s gates. Many visitors used to watch the priests conducting their work and it was known that the study of the Torah was taking place in the Temple yard. In order to maintain the Temple, the administration collected special taxes. The Sanhedrin sat at the Temple’s gates and served as a judicial authority as well as a religious one. Therefore, pilgrimages to the site were important tools for communication and exchange of information between the small minority of Jews living in the Land of Israel and the majority that were living in exile.

Although the official commandment of pilgrimage in Judaism requires travelling three times a year, it is possible that not every Jew went on them all, but probably sacrifice was sent with the envoys. Entering Jerusalem required special purifications, and ritual baths were built at the Temple gates. During pilgrimage, the city was packed with visitors, which scholar Shmuel Safrai estimated to be several tens of thousands. During the time of the pilgrimage, it was believed that the sacredness of the Temple was expanding towards the whole city so that sacrifice offered inside the city, but not in the Temple which was overcrowded, was regarded as sufficient fulfilment of the commandment (Safrai, 1965).

During pilgrimages, Jewish pride grew and inflamed several revolts against Rome that took place on these occasions (Hengel, 1989). In the year 70 ce, the Great Revolt against Rome failed and the Temple was burned to the ground. Since then, Judaism, as a religion, functions without an operating Temple, and synagogues replaced the temple as the place of worship. With the destruction of the Temple, pilgrimages to the holy city were terminated. In fact, through the generations, rabbis actually banned Jews from visiting the Temple site. According to Halacha (Jewish religious law), all Jews are considered to be impure due to contact with the dead, since they have come into contact with deceased persons or with others who have at some point been in such contact. During the Second Temple period (536 bce – 70 ce) Jews were cleansed from the impurity of the dead by virtue of the ‘sin water’ – the ashes of the red heifer mixed in water. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, red heifers have not been available. Moreover, the precise dimensions of the Temple have been lost, including the location of the Kodesh Kodashim – the most sacred site – identified as the dwelling place of the Shechina, the Divine Presence. Entry into this section of the Temple was absolutely prohibited, with the exception of the High Priest (who was cleansed with the ‘sin water’ before performing his sacred duties) on the Day of Atonement. Since the location of the Temple was no longer known, and since red heifers were unavailable, it was ruled that Jews were prohibited from entering the entire Temple Mount area, even though this area is known to be bigger than that of the Temple itself. Accordingly, a person who enters the Temple Mount area incurs the (theoretical) penalty of Karet (the Divinely-imposed death penalty). This position that prohibits Jews from entering the Temple Mount has been supported in numerous Halachic rulings (Sheffer, 1968).

Jewish existence is encapsulated in two dichotomous rabbinical perceptions – exile and redemption. Since the destruction of the Second Temple, the Jewish people have been in exile. Rabbinical exegesis views this exile as spiritual as well as physical. The End of Exile can come only through prophetic leadership and miracles leading to ultimate and complete redemption. Thus, the rabbis demanded messianic passivity. The miraculous approach, based mainly on the rulings of Rashi (1040–1105), a famous medieval French rabbi, argues that the Temple will descend ready-made from the skies. Therefore, human action is not required in order to reconstruct it (Inbari, 2009).

In 691 ce the Dome of Rock mosque was completed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, by the order of Abd Al-Malik, the Muslim ruler of Damascus, for Jerusalem is considered the third holiest site to Islam, after Mecca and Medina in the Arab Peninsula. In the 1967 war, the State of Israel occupied the Temple Mount. Since that war, Israeli governments have sought to mitigate the tension raised by this action, and have allowed two major mosques to be located on the mount, and have thus allowed the Muslim Waqf to maintain its control of the Temple Mount. This status quo arrangement was introduced by Moshe Dayan, Israeli minister of Defence, following the occupation of the holy sites, and stated that the Temple Mount would continue to serve as a Muslim place of prayer, while the Western Wall would be a Jewish place of prayer. Due to Jewish religious restrictions on entering the most sacred areas of the Temple Mount, the Western Wall has become, for practical purposes, the holiest generally accessible site for Jews to pray at (Inbari, 2009).

From a historical and theological level, the Land of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, holds significance in Jewish memory. Zionism, the modern Jewish national movement, was intended to secularize the Jewish people, and to separate political action from religious philosophies. Zionism opposed Jewish passivity when it came to the question of immigration to the Land of Israel. Thus, early Zionist immigrants were secular in most cases; however, their act of immigration was couched in religious language. Immigration was called Aliya, which means accent, and it is the same term that was used for Jewish pilgrimage to the Holy Temple (Aliya laregel) during ancient times. The blurring of the lines between religious and secular was made on purpose, and a link between national traditions and religious rituals was created. With that, the State of Israel also sanctified national shrines, some which previously had meanings, but also it was bound to change them according to newly created national needs (Gitlitz and Davidson, 2006, pp. 189–192).

Pilgrimage to Masada

One of the new national pilgrimage sites was Masada, an ancient fortress on a high plateau overlooking the Dead Sea and the Judean desert. King Herod the Great (73–4 bce) chose to build on this site a palace and a place of refuge. However, this place was used as the last stronghold of the Jewish revolt against Rome. The story of the fall of Masada was recorded by Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian who was a contemporary to the events he recorded. Josephus reported that the Romans besieged Masada and prepared a massive break in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• CABI Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Part I Western ­Pilgrimage to Holy ­Cities in Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• Part II Managing Pilgrimage Sites in Holy Cities
• Closing Words
• Appendix – Discussion Points
• Index
• Back Cover